Art History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Art History - Essay Example The interior of the krakers was glazed so as to make the clay surface suitable for holding water. Also, for aesthetic reasons because the interior was seen easily (Richter, 55). The participants at the start of each symposium elected a lord of common drink or symposiarch. This lord would be in charge of the wine servants, the degree of wine dilution and how it changes as the party continues, and the rate at which the cups will be filled. The centerpiece of the symposiarch’s power was how the krater was filled and emptied. An astute symposiarch was able to make out the degree of inebriation of his fellow participants. Hence, he made sure that the event went on smoothly and without cases of excess drunkenness. Drinking undiluted wine in ancient Greece was considered low, as it characterized the person dinking a drunkard and someone who lacked self-control and principle. For an optimal long conversation, the ancient writers advised a ratio of one is to three (wine to water). A ratio of one is to two was for fun, and a ratio of one is to one was suitable for orgiastic revelry (Richter, 75). There were various forms of krakers. These include column kraker, which has its origin in Corinth though it was Athenians. Calyx krater, this kraker resembles the shape of a calyx flower. It has low handles, which protrude at the base of the bowl. Volute krater, it is attic in shape and has handles which look like the volute of a capital. Bell kraker, it has the look of inverted bell, and they are all red-figure. On this assignment, the focus will lie on the Calyx kraker mixing bowl. The calyx kraker depicts dueling scenes from the Trojan War. The mixing bowl is in the museum of fine arts in Boston. The bowl is from the late archaic period about 490-480 B.C. It has a height of 45.2 cm, or 17 13/16 in diameter is 51.3 cm (20 3/6 in). It is a red figure ceramic classified as Greek vessel. The Tyszkiewicz painter got his name from the vessel (Richter,

Debate the proposition that employers are more concerned with controlling employee behaviour than they are with eliciting employee commitment. Essay Example for Free

Debate the proposition that employers are more concerned with controlling employee behaviour than they are with eliciting employee commitment. Essay It can be said that employers have become increasingly concentrated towards controlling employee’s behaviour than endeavouring to attain employee commitment in organisations. Control can be defined as â€Å"To exercise authoritative or dominating influence over† . However this can become controversial when applied to working with people therefore as a countermeasure commitment has been introduced to even the balance. This can be defined as â€Å"a combination of commitment to the organisation and its values and a willingness to help out colleagues (organisational citizenship). It goes beyond job satisfaction and is not simply motivation. Engagement is something the employee has to offer: it cannot be ‘required’ as part of the employment contract. Commitment is therefore intrinsic to the individual employee and difficult to measure what exactly makes each one motivated therefore control should be utilised to a greater extent. This shift to controlling employees rather than endeavouring to ensure that they are committed has led to a majority of staff feeling undervalued and therefore unable to achieve their potential in the workplace. A study has shown that controlling employees has led to a drop in productivity due to the fact that a 26% or three quarters of staff members, feel that they are being manipulated rather than being utilised to their potential . Therefore, this illustrates that companies are now shifting towards compliance from their employees to follow Manager’s directives in lieu of commitment that is attained through the use of de-centralised management e.g. Matrix structures. However if companies therefore wish to therefore use centralised management the possibility for employee commitment is therefore limited. Matrix structures do have the effect of improving commitment as they include no hierarchy and equal standing by those in them however they must be monitored to ensure that they are still effective and not misused  for their less stringent management style and that some structures favoured over others . McGregor’s (1960) XY theory is a method to illustrate the management style of an organisation to determine whether it favours control or commitment from its workforce. Employee behaviour which is heavily controlled follows the pattern of Theory X, as opposed to the Theory Y which is intended to generate employee commitment. Theory X favours that managers exercise control and directed to achieve the organisational objectives with little flexibility for employees to use their initiative, whereas Theory Y believes that commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievements . Theory X managers have somewhat receded however employees are still being controlled under the assumption that businesses are using commitment methods for example flexible working practises and appraisals which will be discussed later. Commitment is intrinsic which requires more resources, however control is external and can be done more effectively than commitment. See appendix one for a model of McGregor’s theory. To control employee behaviour a number of measures have been utilised in the office environment that have enabled them to be observed by managers and recorded in order to monitor them while they are on the premises. By installing these devices it motivates the employee to work as they are constantly being monitored and therefore provides a sense of motivation for them to work as signs of slacking/unauthorised absence are recorded and used as evidence to support that fact . CCTV has evolved in recent years for businesses. Before, it was used as a common security device for the building, now, it has become a performance tool for mangers in which as a further measure to control their staff. This is done by highlighting those employees who are slacking to ensuring that proper procedure is being adhered to while on the premises. . This constant monitoring can have the effect of de-moralising employees as their every move in the workplace is being scrutinised. Job commitment however relegates CCTV to its previous function of security as management entrust employees to do their jobs, but now that CCTV has been turned in towards employees it is evident that control measures are being used instead of trying to create commitment. Yet CCTV is but one way of retaining control of staff in the workplace. For  instance, in McDonalds through the use of CCTV cameras, productivity has increased through unobtrusive CCTV coverage of workers and customers . An additional method which a business can use technology to monitor employees is the practice of electronic â€Å"clocking in† systems. These devices have been implemented in large businesses that employ a multitude of staff in which individual movement of employees can be difficult to trace. A business which has done this exactly this is Poundworld in which employees are electronically scanned into at the start of a shift and have the consequence of deduced salary if this process has been neglected . As a method of control, these devices can monitor exactly when an employee has begun their shift or when they have returned from their breaks etc. to ensure that they begin work at the proper time. This also ensures proper records can be maintained should any discrepancy arise regarding timekeeping. However this monitoring of movement may hamper employee commitment as they are constantly being recorded while on the premises for timekeeping plus they can feel dis-trusted by management as they are being constantly monitored for when they started their shift. Employers have minutely contributed to employee commitment with the use of Job Design which has been utilised to effect in certain companies such as Microsoft who use elements like job share to encourage employees in their roles Job Design is when the duties and the role of an employees’ position have been analysed and decided by management before they are employed or amending parts of an employees’ position while they are employed. Job Design permits an input from employees into their role of the organisation as they collaborate with management in which their position is defined. A further example of stimulating commitment with job design is when employees and employers discuss characteristics of the position that would suit the employee’s capabilities which in turn increases their motivation as the employers are permitting staff an input into designing their responsibilities in the job. However, employers have the opportunity to use job design to influence control of over their staff with the use techniques such as job expansion and job rotation with allow them to amend or add additional workload to their job which may not be to the employees benefit.  Furthermore, an employer has the ability to change the job design of staff to suit their requirements over employees depending on the situation without any input from employees. By way of strategically/tactically controlling their staff, management are employing the use of Management by Objectives for all members of staff to analyse if targets or goals are being met. This can be defined as â€Å"A methods of management whereby managers and employees define goals for each department, project, and person and use them to monitor subsequent performance† . Controlling behaviour is being used here as management are attaining the utmost effectiveness from a particular member of staff or individual department as their desired goals are measured against their actual goals and analyse if they have been accomplished. However commitment is being given to the staff/department as the decisions to how they achieve their stated goals has been de-centralised for them to decide. As technology has increased to such an extent, a business can take advantage of employing staff that do not have to work in the office environment through the use of flexible working contracts and providing them with equipment to work off-site. These contracts enable a business to offer their employees who are unable to travel or who have other commitment so actively continue working but in the confines of their own home or on the go by the use of a laptop or mobile phones. As employees are away from the office, a main disadvantage is that their working pattern cannot be monitored to ensure that they are actually fulfilling their tasks. As controlling behaviour has become more prevalent to management, software has be embedded to the technology issued to these homeworkers e.g. tracker and keystroke logs to monitor the use of laptops and phones during the day. For example, Freedom Direct, a holiday company offers such flexible contracts and issues those involved with hardware embedded with this surveillance software to safeguard against slacking while away from the eyes of management . However some companies now prefer to control their employees from one central organisation. For example Yahoo managing director has decided to ban employees from using home working to â€Å"build on corporate culture† however this has damaged commitment as many employees have been demoralised by this  decision that may affect their future in the company. . Furthermore, to bolster the claim of controlling employees, this ban on flexible practises was instigated after an investigation of employee logs showed it fell below the standard expected for their employees and therefore cut this form of employment from the organisation. . This therefore illustrates that electronic devices provided by organisation are monitored to ensure that duties are conducted. Employee commitment is therefore given an opportunity by senior management by permitting a group of employees to work away from the office on these contracts who might not have the opportunity to do so. This increases motivation and job satisfaction to the company as they would not lose any valuable staff plus have the ability to monitor these employees away from the office with the tracker software to monitor their actions during the working day. Control is again utilised as these employees are monitored no less than their counterparts in the office and are monitored with the identical software. Control has been favoured in organisations as those with the authority to make decisions in their department must to be held to account for those decisions should they prove to be incorrect. Accountability can be defined as â€Å"the fact that those people with authority and responsibility are subject to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command† . By having a clear and define line of authority from the managing director to the clerk, it is possible to identify who should be held to account and therefore justify their decisions should they prove them to be incorrect or disastrous. This can be de-moralising as these targets are not negotiable and therefore must be achieve which adds an element of stress. Managers often therefore are hesitant to issue instructions in which they know are difficult to achieve, yet this can bolster commitment within the company as employees, if informed, that these tasks are of some difficulty may strive to attain them to receive the department recognition for doing so. This therefore increases motivation as well as assists in team-building for the department as they are united in a common goal . Employee behaviour can be controlled by the use of annual appraisals of departments. This is the discussion in which an employee and manager decide  on the objectives and the action necessary to achieve them for the coming year. Appraisals are a two way discussion in which the employee states what they wish to achieve for the year and the manager offers guidance to do so, however this is again a method for which control even though employees perceive it as being a method for commitment. The employee may see appraisals as a method in which they are in control of what they want to achieve and not what the business wants them to do. This is an opportunity for managers to input targets or goals which the employee agrees on without knowing the magnitude of the task, however they must achieve as it has been stated on the appraisal document and could lead to a poor appraisal the subsequent year. Managers can use these to implement control over employees in which to dispel rewards to the employee thus motivates them to achieve their objectives. The threat of disciplinary action for repeated failure to attain objectives set out at appraisals is a sure way to coerce commitment in the workplace as employees will strive to achieve those objectives set at appraisals. Employers have the ability to produce commitment while still using control methods by the use of a health work/life balance. This can be defined as â€Å"concept that supports the efforts of employees to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives† . While managers are allowing an employee to split their time between a professional and a private life they can still use methods such as monitoring social media to ensure that no derogatory remarks have been made against the organisation known as reputation management. It has been reported that 80% of a company’s workforce use social media sites in one way or another therefore the scope for badmouthing a company has increased. To combat this possibility 60% of selected businesses have proposed to implement software that would detect this . It is imperative that a business conform to the laws which dictate when an employee’s professional life ends and when a personal one begins as not to intrude. Having a healthy balance between personal and professional life enhances commitment to the organisation due to employees recognising that their business does not own them permanently and are permitted a life outside the office however are unobtrusively monitored to an extent. In order for senior management to exercise control over employees while they are in the workplace, management have re-employed the use of a well-defined and structured hierarchy in organisations in which they can delegate the operational control of the business to managers or first level employees who have a greater understand of how operations of the department are conducted. Middle management positions such as Assistant Managers for departments have returned to businesses due to the fact that the employees on this level support change to departments which may not be popular as well as focusing on the different strategies which have been set by the company . By re-introducing levels of management that may have been de-layered previously, companies are therefore increasing their Vertical differentiation to establish a clear line of authority in departments. This may be advantageous for commitment in departments that have a copious amount of staff as problems can be easily rectified, yet they can be seen as another level of management in which the business has established to ensure their corporate strategies are met irrespective to employee requirements. In order to control employees’ behaviour, businesses have invested in training and development programs to educate their workforce with various methods such as induction training through to university courses. Induction training is a period in which a new employee to the business is given training preceding their start in the business. This provides an opportunity for the member of staff to become aware of the procedures, policies and workplace culture that a business has. In order to train potential or existing staff some businesses have adopted a system of internal in-house training schemes that have been adapted especially to fit different purposes. Businesses such as McDonalds which have established educational institutes for potential staff to undertake for promotion or re-training or other reasons which would see those who graduate attain a recognised qualification . However due to their size and expense they are restricted to large highly profitable businesses. A purpose of these schools is to instruct that person on what is expected of them while in employment and how to undertake different duties, however these methods can be categorised as a method of control as these courses are pre-designed so that employees  should conform only to those that are taught as they expect them to be correct. Commitment can be fostered from this as employees may be more motivated and satisfied in their position as they have been trained to a degree so that they are competent in their role in the business and provide a sense of a good working environment to potential employees, plus as this is a recognised qualification this can be presented as part of an application as a symbol that they have enrolled and passed a course specifically designed to train members of staff. The drawback of control becomes the advantages of using commitment and should influence a business to implement commitment measures For example; Pfeffers’ model of high performance factors is heavily influenced as commitment measures that managers should consider to bolster the motivation of their workforce. However these are disguised as a further method of control as to attain these factors the workforce must demonstrate they are a viable working entity. The factors that constitute this model are Team working and de-centralised management, High pay and incentive, Employee Security, Extensive training and development, Narrow status differentials and Careful recruitment and selection. Cultural control is a method that managers can use to â€Å"define specific patterns of behaviour within a professional environment†. This behaviour has already been stipulated by the management of how they wish the workforce to conform and therefore expect these patterns to re-enforce organisational culture. A method in which an employee can become accustomed to the social norms of a workplace culture is through induction training. Therefore the accompanying member of staff would acquaint the new employee of the social norms that have been adopted by staff which they will conform to. This method of control is an example of how management quickly adapt staff to the methods of the workforce that have already been repeated for other staff. A company that would be perceived as having a poor corporate culture would be BP. In the wake of the oil spill in 2007 in which an inquiry was found to ascertain that intense cost cutting and efficiency measures demoralised the workforce therefore affected practises which precipitated the disaster through negligence of corporate culture. A final method in which businesses can control their workforce is through the monitoring of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The organisation will monitor their employees’ posts on these sites to ascertain they are behaving in an according manner or post any derogatory statements regarding the business or its staff. This is a method of control as staff are being monitored while they are on the premises as well as off therefore this encroaches into their personal life affecting the work/life balance. It has been reported that 60% of businesses by 2015 will have some monitor in place in order to track their workforce on social media sites in order to protect the business’s reputation or the brand they are selling . An example of a business that has used this is Proskauer Rose in which staff have it written into their contract of employment that they will be monitored on social media sites. Therefore to conclude, it would appear that mangers controlling employee behaviour has become more prevalent that endeavouring to attain employee commitment in organisations. This could be the case as controlling employees has become cheaper that resorting to measures to attain employee commitment as well as ensuring their effectiveness in the workplace as well as out of it . However there should be an even balance between control and commitment from managers to create a suitable working environment for employees as they would not prefer to working in a hostile business which treats them as a tool rather than one which treats them as a valuable resource. Using control methods such as technology and monitoring ensures that staff are adhering to policy set out in their contract. References Always Watching . (2010). Benefits of CCTV for your Business. Retrieved Feburary 19, 2013, from Always Watching.com: http://www.always-watching.com/benefits-of-cctv-for-your-business.html Anviz, Newsdesk. (2011, August). Anviz’s VF30 fingerprint time clock on Channel 4†²s ‘Undercover Boss’. Retrieved March 4, 2013, from Security Newsdesk: http://www.securitynewsdesk.com/2011/08/10/anvizs-vf30-fingerprint-time-clock-on-channel-4s-undercover-boss/ Bednarz, T. (2013, January 15). Empowered Organisations Develop Employee Commitment. Retrieved Feburary 18, 2013, from Leaders to Leader: http://blog.majoriumbusinesspress.com/2013/01/15/empowered-organizations-develop-employee-commitment/ Broome, I. (2009, July 20). How CCTV can help improve your productivity. Retrieved Feburary 10, 2013, from IanBroome.com: http://iainbroome.com/how-cctv-can-help-improve-your-productivity Business Dictionary. (2013). What is Job Design. Retrieved March 1, 2013, from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/job-design.html Chertkow, M. (2012, August 24). CCTV is not just about security anymore its performance management and productivity tool, too . Retrieved Feburary 19, 2013, from IT web Techforum: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=57970 CIPD. (2012, July). Employee Engagement. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from CIPD: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/employee-engagement.aspx#link_0 CIPD. (2012, April). Job Design. Retrieved Feburary 21, 2013, from CIPD: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/job-design.aspx Clark, D. (2010, October 3). Theory X and Theory Y. Retrieved Feburary 25, 2013, from Officebroker.com: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/xy.html Cross, S. (2013). Examples of Cultural Controls in Organizational Structure. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-cultural-controls-organizational-structure-13425.html Daft, R. (2008). The New Era of Management. Mason: Thomson South-Western. Daft, R Kendrick, M Vershinina N . (2010). Management. Hampshire: South Western Cengage Learning #. Dunn, C. (2012, November 29). More Employers Creating Social Media Polices for the Workplace. Retrieved March 19 , 2013, from Corporate Counsel: http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp? id=1202579655072More_Employers_Creating_Social_Media_Policies_for_the_Workplaceslreturn=20130219093207 Farquhar, C. (1998). Middle Managers are Back: How Companies Have Come to Value Their Middle Managers. Farquhar, C. (1998). Middle Managers are Back. How Companies Have Come to Value Their Middle Managers. Free Dictionary. (2013). Control. Retrieved Feburary 19, 2013, from The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/control Heathfield, S. (2013). Work-life Balance. Retrieved Feburary 26, 2013, from About.com : http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryw/g/balance.htm Herscher, P. (2010, May 10). From BP and Wall Street: Corporate Culture Impacts Performance . Retrieved March 11, 2013, from Huffingston Post Businesses: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-herscher/from-bp-and-wall-st-corpo_b_563211.html Improve. (2012, July 27). How far can Employers go in Controlling Employee Behaviour Off the Job . Retrieved March 8, 2013, from Improve: http://www.improve.com/How-far-can-Employers-go-in-Controlling-Employee-Behavior-Off-the-Job/4404# Johnson. (2013). Disadvantages of a Strong Matrix Organizational Structure. Retrieved Feburary 21, 2013, from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-strong-matrix-organizational-structure-59207.html Lipman, V. (2013, January 13). Why Are So Many Employees Disengaged? Retrieved Feburary 18, 2013, from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/01/18/why-are-so-many-employees-disengaged/ Management Study Guide . (2008). Performance Appraisal and Performance Management. Retrieved Feburary 25, 2013, from Management Study Guide: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/performance-appraisal-and-performance-management.htm Maximize Social Media . (2012). Rapid Rise in Monitoring Employee Use of Social Media. Retrieved March 4, 2013, from Maximise, Social Media: http://maximizesocialmedia.com/social-media-management-rapid-rise-in-monitoring-employee-use-of-social-media Mighty Students. (2010). Elements of Job Design. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from Mighty Students: http://www.mightystudents.com/essay/Elements.Job.Design.68700 Peacock, L. (2010, November 25). McDonalds launches foundation degree for staff. Retrieved March 4, 2013, from TheTelegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8157900/McDonalds-launches-foundation-degree-for-staff.html Reed, S. (2010, July 6). How to Manage Employee Behaviour. Retrieved Feburary 28, 2013, from Ezine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Manage-Employee-Behaviourid=4613259 Reference for Business. (2013). Management Levels. Retrieved Feburary 19 , 2013, from Reference for Business, Encyclopedia of Business 2nd Edition: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Levels.html Reporter. (2013, Feburary 27). Melissa Mayer imposed Yahoo! work from home ban after spying on employee log ins. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287148/I-wouldnt-consider-feminist-s ays-Marissa-Mayer-revealed-imposed-Yahoo-work-home-ban-spying-employee-log-ins.html Smith, T. (2011, May 9). Accountability in Business Management. Retrieved Feburary 21, 2013, from The New Dawn: http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=3430:accountability-in-business-managementcatid=36:investmentItemid=62 Sullivan, I. (2012, July 2). Sixty percent of companies will monitor employee social media use by 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2013, from The Wall: http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/07/02/sixty-percent-of-companies-will-monitor-employee-social-media-use-by-2015/ Twentyman, J. (2007). Keeping tabs (Staff monitoring). Twentyman, J. (2007, October 22). Staff monitoring: keeping tabs on homeworkers. Retrieved Feburary 21, 2013, from Personnel Today: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/22/10/2007/42869/staff-monitoring-keeping-tabs-on-homeworkers.htm UK Business Information. (2013). The Benefits of in-house training. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from UK Business Information: http://www.business-information-uk.com/in-house-training.html Verheul, I. (2003). Commitment or control? Weiss, T. (2013, Feburary 27). Yahoo’s Mayer Slated Over ‘Foolish’ Home Working Ban. Retrieved Feburary 28, 2013 , from Tech Week Europe: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/yahoo-home-working-ban-108776 Wu, J. (2009). McDonaldisation and the Labour Process:Impacts and Resistance. Asian Social Science , 106. Bibliography Broome, I. (2009, July 20). How CCTV can help improve your productivity. Retrieved Feburary 10, 2013, from IanBroome.com: http://iainbroome.com/how-cctv-can-help-improve-your-productivity Business Dictionary. (2013). What is Job Design. Retrieved March 1, 2013, from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/job-design.html Improve. (2012, July 27). How far can Employers go in Controlling Employee Behaviour Off the Job . Retrieved March 8, 2013, from Improve: http://www.improve.com/How-far-can-Employers-go-in-Controlling-Employee-Behav  ior-Off-the-Job/4404# Reed, S. (2010, July 6). How to Manage Employee Behaviour. Retrieved Feburary 28, 2013, from Ezine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Manage-Employee-Behaviourid=4613259 Reference for Business. (2013). Management Levels. Retrieved Feburary 19 , 2013, from Reference for Business, Encyclopedia of Business 2nd Edition: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Levels.html Twentyman, J. (2007). Keeping tabs (Staff monitoring). Verheul, I. (2003). Commitment or control? Appendix list 1. 1. Working on feedback: Read the feedback on your assignment carefully, then re-read the piece of work to see the areas that the feedback refers to. You might use a highlighter pen to cross-reference the feedback to your work, or to draw attention to corrections and suggestions. What has your tutor written (key points) What do you understand this to mean? 1. Good introduction, underpinned by theory 2. Critical and analytical throughout 3. Good reference base 4. Contextualised into subject 5. Good analysis 6. Must use references properly 7. Used references and examples to illustrate that points made are utilised in business. 8. Good research base 1. A well designed introduction that has been bolstered with the use of business theory to support the argument. 2. By being argumentative on both sides (control and commitment) it shows that there has been research done and concluded that one was more viable than the other. 3. A diverse range of sources has been used to collate examples e.g. journals books internet

The Introduction Of Mamee Double Decker

The Introduction Of Mamee Double Decker Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad is a unique brand of good taste and fine quality. The company is recently listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchang (KLSE). The company manufactures many products which are Mamee Monster, Mamee Instant and Sllrrrp Noodles, Mister Potato Chips, Mister Potato Crisps and so on. All this products are already household names. The most famous product of the company is Mamee Monster. Mamee Monster is something like noodles with a pack of seasoning powder. This product consists of two flavours which are chicken and barbeque. Besides these two flavours, there is another new flavor like satay flavor. Between these three flavours, barbeque is the tastiest and many kids like it including us. Mamee Monster consists of jumbo pack; the jumbo packs are a new product and it is include two flavours like barbeque and the new one- curry flavour. These two flavours can stimulate our taste buds. Besides this honored, the company also promote a new product which is Mister Potato Rice Crisps. This new product can competes with others brand as well like Jacker and Pringles. Why do I say so? It is because this Mister Potato Rice Crisps is low fat and healthier compared with others potato chips. Jacker is good taste but salty and same goes to Pringles. This new product consists of four flavours such as, original, flame grilled bbq, hot and spicy as well as sour cream and onion. For people who likes chili can try hot and spicy flavor. For those who do not like heavy flavour can try original flavour. In an addition, Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad also has a product which is instant noodles-Mamee Sllrrrp. For this instant noodles have a variety of flavours such as ayam kampung, asam laksa, kari berapi and kari extra pedas. Any of the flavours will make people sllrrrp, sllrrp, sllrrrp when eating. Overall, Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad is a good quality brand and no doubt it can win the heart of the public range from kids and adults to old folks. This company is a very successful company and earns much profit from previous until now. Mamee Lekor After a thorough consideration, we as Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhads corporate finance advisors had decided to increase their shareholders wealth by introducing a new product keropok lekor. What is keropok lekor? This is it. The easiest way to describe Keropok Lekor is to call it as fish sausage. Its main ingredients are fish (Ikan Parang/Kembong/Selayang), sago flour, salt and water. We named our new product (keropok lekor) as Mamee Lekor. It can be served in crispy type or soft chewy type according to preferences.D:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 2keropok_lekor.jpgD:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 211.jpg Keropok lekor is originated from Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia and it is a popular and most visible fried snack in Terengganu. Lots of local there know how to make this keropok lekor. Therefore, there are many stalls in Malaysia that sells keropok lekor. However, there is none in hypermarket, cinemas and petrol station. This keropok lekor become very popular that we can find it in other states of Malaysia such as Johor and Melaka. Perhaps, we could not find this type of snacks in country other than Malaysia because keropok lekor is a local Malay delicacy and specialty of Malaysia. Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad introduces Mamee Lekor in two forms. First, the mini ball sized fried keropok lekor which packaging in a small plastic bag like Mamee Monster. Another one is raw keropok lekor. D:New folderMmuGamma 1st SemBBF 2124 FM 2keropak_lekor.jpg The fried keropok lekor in mini packing contains 10 mini balls of keropok lekor which sells RM1.50 per pack. The above picture is for illustration purpose only. To be more attrative, we will shape it into mini balls to attract customers. We also produce raw keropok lekor in 700g per pack which sells at RM10. This fried mini keropok lekor will expire in 4 to 5 days after production. How we are going to handle this situation? We will follow the Gardenias distribution strategy. We will send our workers to send new keropok lekor and collect back the expired one. Our workers are going to the retail store and supermarkets to send and collect Mamee Lekor 2 times per week. This is to ensure that our products are fresh before reaches to our customers and consumers. Also, we produce raw keropok lekor to fulfill some households demands. They can cut it into the thickness they prefer and fry or steam it. The main difference between the raw and ready fried mini packed keropok lekor is that the raw keropok lekor can keep for longer period. On the other hand, the ready fried mini packed keropok lekor can only last within 5 days. Some household may buy the raw keropok lekor and kept in their freezer and fried it whenever they want to eat. Since raw keropok lekor can be kept in a long period which is around one year, we plan to export it to other countries. We plan to export 700g of raw keropok lekor per pack to other countries selling at RM12 each. The selling price is slightly higher than in Malaysia because it already included the cost that related to export activities. We decided to export to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. We export more to Australia because it is the largest and fastest growing export market compared to other countries. It ha s highest export rate of snack and confectionary from Mamee-Double Decker. We also export to Singapore and Hong Kong because we want to introduce Mamee Lekor to Western and Asian countries as well. Why we produce keropok lekor? This is because it is a local traditional delicacy which not available in other countries. It is a specialty to foreigners because their countries do not have this food. So, we can monopolize Mamee Lekor in other countries. Besides, according to research, Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad s snacks and confectionery occupied the highest demand compared to other catrgories. So we produce Mamee Lekor which is a kind of snacks to boost the demand. We will start our project by reaching out the children because no children dislike snacks and they like to try on new things. So, we decided to distribute Mamee Lekor to school canteens. It is packed in a mini package same as Mamee Monster. It is cute and can attract children to try it. It is also convenient to consume. Moreover, in order to expand new market, we will distribute our Mamee Lekor to all cinemas such as Golden Screen Cinemas and MBO Cinemas. Most of the people will carry a packet of snacks or a big box of popcorn into the theatre. As our Mamee Lekor is also a kind of snacks, we believe that the demand will be higher in cinemas. Also, Mamee Lekor can be a substitute good for those who do not like popcorn or other snacks for health conscious. As Our Mamee Lekor is made from fish and fried with unsaturated oil, it is high protein, monosodium glutamate (MSG)-free and less oily. Why we want to promote healthy lifestyle? It is to follow Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhads step. The company wants to produce products that are MSG-free, artificial colouring-free and oil-free. We produce keropok lekor in a healthy way to help consumers to consume without worries while maintaining a balance and healthy lifestyle. Initial Investment When we wanted to produce the Keropok Lekor, we used 3 types of machine like cartridge system, frying machine and packaging machine. The machines and the usages are shown below: Cartridge system is used to blend the filled up fish with some ingredients. This machine is the key in making Keropok Lekor and was the first step to produce the better product. The retail price of this type of machine is RM 15,000 each. It is a franchised system, so the price is fixed. We prepare keropok lekor from fish meat grounded with sago and salt; these are then rolled and made into the shape of long tubes similar to sausages by this machine.C:UsersPublicPicturesSample Picturesmoto_0117.jpg The frying machine is used to fry Keropok Lekor after it was shaped into mini size by our labours. This machine has many functions such as continuous fines removal for increased oil life and automatic oil level control. It is easy to clean. Its superior oil temperature control helps to maintain fryer quality stability. The cost of purchasing the machine is RM 6,000 each.http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/432764/3809036/0/1181816403/Gas_Frying_Machine.jpghttp://i03.i.aliimg.com/photo/104903103/Horizontal_Packaging_Machine_v0.jpg As shown the horizontal packaging machine. After the Keropok Lekor had been steam and fried, the packaging and leballing process happen. It is to keep keropok lekor last longer and maintain the taste. This machine costs RM 13,000 each. How many factories we have? We are going share some spaces in the existing Mamee-Double Decker factories rather than building extra factories. We choose to share capacity with factories in Selangor, Perak, Johor and Sarawak. This is the strategic location as we can cater the demands of North, East, West, and South of Malaysia. There are 2 cartridge system, 2 frying machines and 1 packaging machine in each factory. We use 2 catridge machine because one machine is not big enough to blend big amount of filled fish and other ingredient. When we use two of them together, the maintenance cost will become lower when some of the parts broken. Timing on processing will also reduce 20% compare to big cartridge machine. Other than that, we use 2 frying machines because we need to save cost especially in introducing the new product. The bigger and more technologically advance machine will cost higher. So we use 2 cartridge system and frying machine instead of the sophisticated one. The machines we use are expected to be able to serve large amount of production. Lastly, for an newly introduced project, we expect that 1 packaging machine is enough to cater our production. It produces around 70 to 100 packs of keropok lekor per hour. With one packaging machine only, we can save our budget and consume less space. We are going to promote our new product by advertising on The Star  [1]  newspaper. Why we choose to advertise on The Star rather than other newspapers? According to Audit Bureau of Circulations from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, The Star newspaper is the most famous newspaper in Malaysia in term of readership. It has between 290,000 to 300,000 readers. Moreover, The Star newspaper is an English-language newspaper which is readable for all races, for instance Malays, Chinese, Indian and others, in Malaysia. Additionally, we need to buy new vans to implement our distribution network strategy. Each second hand van would cost us RM 80,000 each. We plan to buy 2 vans for each factory. We will hire driver to run our distribution network to distribute and collect back our keropok lekor. Year 1 In first year, we expect to sell 1,200 packs of Mini ball keropok lekor and raw keropok lekor each day. That means each factory has to produce 300 packs of Mini keropok lekor and raw keropok lekor respectively. Total quantity produce of mini and raw keropok lekor = 300 packs per day x 4 factories x 30 days per month x 12 months per year = 432,000 packs repectively. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 1 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 Quantity produce 432,000 432,000 Sales volume RM 648,000 RM 4,320,000 RM 4,968,000 The main ingredients of keropok lekor are ikan parang/kembong/selayang, sago flour, salt and water. The ingredient costs of mini and raw keropok lekor are RM 0.80 and RM 5.00 each while the packaging costs are RM 0.20 and RM 0.10 respectively. Packaging cost of mini keropok lekor is higher than raw keropok lekor because the packaging design will be more colourful and attractive. Also, we need labours to help us shape mini keropok lekor and fry it. Each labour cost is RM 800 per month. Each driver will have to travel 2 times per week to distribute and collect mini keropok lekor. Each trip will cost RM 150 including petrol cost. So, each driver costs us RM 150 x 2 times per week x 4 times per month x 12 months x 4 factories = RM 57,600. Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 432,000= RM 432,000 (RM5+RM0.10) x 432,000 = RM 2,203,200 Labor 6 labours X RM 800 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 230,400 Driver 2 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 115,200 Cash outflow (RM 432,000 + RM 2,203,200 + RM 230,400 + RM 115,200=RM 2,980,800 Net operating cash flow in year 1 = RM 4,968,000 RM 2,980,800 = RM 1,987,200 Year 2 Year 2, we estimate that our production will increase 5% as demand increases. Since first years production is 864,000 units (432,000 units for mini and raw keropok lekor respectively), year 2 our productions will be 907,200 units (864,000 + 5%). That means production for each type is 453,600 units. Besides, as Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad generated about 30% of its sales from the export markets which cover more than 80 countries across all continents, we plan to expand market and export raw keropok lekor to other countries. Each pack of raw keropok lekor, we will charge RM 12 which slightly higher than RM 10 to cover any expenses incur in export activities. In this year, we will export 100,000 units to Australia, 60,000 units to Hong Kong and 36,000 units to Singapore. In other words, we will export 25000, 15000 and 9000 units to these 3 countries in every 3 months. Why do we export more products to Australia? As Australia is the largest and fastest growing export market which contributed 18% of the total export sales in financial year 2009, we decided to export more products to the country. Other than Western country, we also export to Asian country such as Hong Kong. It not only helps to expand our market, but also introduce keropok lekor such a traditional cuisine to both Western and Asian countries. Besides, Singapore is our neighbour country and knows our cultures more as well as it contributed 9% of total export, so we choose to export to Singapore rather than other countries. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 2 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 453,600 453,600 196,000 Sales volume RM 680,400 RM 4,536,000 RM 2,352,000 RM 7,568,400 Due to increase in production, we have to add in additional 2 labours, 1 driver, 1 cartridge system, 1 packaging machine and 1 frying machine in each factory. Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 453,600 = RM 453,600 (RM5+RM0.10) x 453,600 = RM 2,313,360 (RM7+RM0.10)x 196,000 = RM 1,391,600 Labor 8 labours X RM 800 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 307,200 Driver 3 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 172,800 Cartridge system RM 15,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 60,000 Packing machine RM 13,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 52,000 Frying machine RM 6,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 24,000 Cash outflow RM 453,600+ RM 2,313,360+ RM 1,391,600+ RM 307,200+ RM 172,800+ RM 60,000+ RM 52,000+ RM 24,000 =RM 4,774,560 Net operating cash flow in year 2 = RM 7,568,400 RM 4,774,560 = RM 2,793,840 Year 3 We estimate that our sales in this year keep increasing and probably reach maturity. Our expected production excluding export will increases from 907,200 to 950,400 units which increases around 5 % of year 2s production. In other words, production for mini and raw keropok lekor is 475,200 units respectively. Additionally, we expect export rate of keropok lekor will increase 4 %, which is from 196,000 to 204,000 units. In this year, we have to add in more technologically advance machine to cater the increase in production. We will purchase more innovative cartridge system, packing machine and frying machine to improve productivity. We also hire 2 more labours and 1 more driver to help us run our business smoother. The additional driver can help us widen our distribution network to other places. We expect that the cost of labour will become slightly higher which is from RM 800 to RM900. It is to increase their motivation to work and maybe due to inflation. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 3 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 475,200 475,200 204,000 Sales volume RM 712,800 RM 4,752,000 RM 2,448,000 RM 7,912,800 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.80+RM0.20) x 475,200 = RM 475,200 (RM5+RM0.10) x 475,200 = RM 2,423,520 (RM7+RM0.10)x 204,000 = RM 1,448,400 Labor 10 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 432,000 Driver 4 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 230,400 Cartridge system RM 20,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 80,000 Packing machine RM 20,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 80,000 Frying machine RM 10,000 x 1 unit x 4 factories = RM 40,000 Cash outflow RM 475,200+ RM 2,423,520+ RM 1,448,400+ RM 432,000+ RM 230,400+ RM 80,000+ RM 80,000+ RM 40,000 =RM 5,209,520 Net operating cash flow in year 3 = RM 7,912,800 RM 5,209,520 = RM 2,703,280 This year, although expected sales increases, net operating cash flow decreases. This is because we plan to do expansion by adding more technologically advance machines. This is logic as whenever a firm manages to cover up their initial investment, what they might do is to do expansion. Year 4 Out of expectation, probably the demand for our keropok lekor might go down. Perhaps there is new competitors exist in market. Who knows they envy of our high sales volume and might want to compete with us? With our 3 years brand recognition, perhaps our sales would not drop too badly. So, our expected production will be 920,000 units which are 3% less than previous year. Production of mini and raw keropok lekor will be 460,000 units respectively. As production decreases, we do not have to hire much driver for distribution network. We will cut down 1 driver to cut expense of RM 57,600. However, we will remain our existing labours. As we believe that, whenever there is an obstacle, we will find out a way to curb it and boost future sales as well as production. Thus, we do not want to loss any well- trained and loyal labour. Still, in order to handle any possible changes in future, we have a pessimistic view that the cost of ingredient will increase. We predict that the unit cost of mi ni keropok lekor will increase from RM0.80 to RM0.90 while raw keropok lekor will increase from RM5 to RM 5.50. On the other hand, our export rate will keep on increasing. We expect our production will be 210,000 units which is 3% higher than in year 3. Why do we forecast that the export rate will increase? Why not decrease? Because, even if foreign competitor wants to compete with us, they might need some times to figure out how to produce such a Malay local cuisine which is available in Malaysia only. This is our local special food, so of course there is some recipe that other countries do not know. Also, since there is a decrease in Malaysias sales and an increase of export rate, we do not have to add in any new machine. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 4 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 460,000 460,000 210,000 Sales volume RM 690,000 RM 4,600,000 RM 2,520,000 RM 7,810,000 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.90+RM0.20) x 460,000 = RM 506,000 (RM5.50+RM0.10) x 460,000 = RM 2,576,000 (RM7.50+RM0.10)x 210,000 = RM 1,596,000 Labor 10 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 432,000 Driver 3 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 172,800 Cash outflow RM 506,000 + RM 2,576,000 + RM 1,596,000 + RM 432,000 + RM 172,800 = RM 5,282,800 Net operating cash flow in year 4 = RM 7,810,000 RM 5,282,800 = RM 2,527,200 Year 5 Assume that there is a drop in sales, of course we will take some actions to increase the sales back. In this year, we plan to open kiosk in hypermarket. Together there will be one kiosk in Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru respectively. Rental of each kiosk is expected to be RM 800. We will hire 2 workers to help us operate the kiosk. Since we sell freshly cooked keropok lekor on the spot, we will need to purchase one frying machine for each kiosk. We also need some budgets for setup cost. With the above strategy, we believe that we able to boost our sales for at least 2%. Our expected production will be 940,000 units which is 470,000 units for each type of keropok lekor. Furthermore, we predict that our export rate of keropok lekor will grow at a decreasing rate which is 1% only. Our expected export rate will be 212,000 units. We are going to hire 2 more labours to help us to run our business to avoid supply shortage and to employ any future strategy. We need 1 more driver to widen our distribution network, and send raw keropok lekor to our kiosk to ensure there is no shortage problem. No additional machine is required as we already added in technologically advance machines in previous year which able to cater higher production. Sales Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export raw keropok lekor Cash inflow in year 5 Unit selling price RM 1.50 RM 10.00 RM 12.00 Quantity produce 470,000 470,000 212,000 Sales volume RM 705,000 RM 4,700,000 RM 2,544,000 RM 7,949,000 Costs Mini keropok lekor Raw keropok lekor Export (raw keropok lekor Ingredient + packaging (RM0.90+RM0.20) x 470,000 = RM 517,000 (RM5.50+RM0.10) x 470,000 = RM 2,632,000 (RM7.50+RM0.10)x 212,000 = RM 1,611,200 Labor 12 labours X RM 900 X 12 months x 4 factories = RM 518,400 Driver 4 drivers x RM 57,600 = RM 230,400 4 Kiosk Expenses Calculations Total Rental RM 800 x 4 kiosks x 12months RM 38,400 Workers RM 800 x 2workers x 4 kiosks x 12 months RM 76,800 Frying machine RM 3000 x 4 kiosks RM 12,000 Setup RM 1,500 x 4 kioks RM 6,000 Total expenses for kiosks RM 133,200 Cash outflow in year 5 RM 517,000 + RM 2,632,000 + RM 1,611,200 + RM 518,400 + RM 230,400 + RM 133,200 = RM 5,642,200 Net Operating cash flow in year 5 = RM 7,949,000 RM 5,642,200 = RM 2,306,800 Although expected sales increases, net operating cash flow slightly decreases, it is due to the investment in kiosks. Yet, we believe that next years sales and net operating cash flow will increase simultaneously. RM 1,987,200 RM 2,793,840 RM 2,703,280 RM 2,527,200 RM 2,306,800 o 1 2 3 4 5 year RM 1,140,000 The time line above depicts the conventional cash flow of our project. There is only one cash outflow for initial investment in year 0. From year 2 to 5, there is positive net operating cash flow. The net cash flow rises from year 1 to 2 because we export raw keropok lekor to other countries and increase revenues. In year 3, the sales keep on increasing but net cash flows drop as we do expansion by purchasing additional machines for technology advancement. During year 4, we predict that there will be new competitors exist to compete with us. Our sales drop slightly but net cash flow increases, because we try to cut cost and do not need to add in new capital. The next year, we employ a new strategy which is to open kiosk in hypermarket to sell freshly fried keropok lekor. We predict that our sales will increase slightly. But why net cash flow descend? Because we need some costs on operating the kioks. In short, our net cash flow thoroughout the year is up and down, but we manage to ke ep it at positive level. From other point of view, there will be up and down, because when any unfavourable things incur, we try to solve it and up the net cash flow again. Cost of Capital The cost of capital acts as a link between Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad s long term investment decisions (keropok lekor project) and the wealth of their owners as determined by investors in the marketplace. It is the magic number that is used to decide whether a proposed investment will increase or decrease the firms stock price. The cost of capital is the rate of return that Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad must earn on the keropok lekor project in which it invests to maintain the market value of its stock. In this project, we will use Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhads retained earnings to cover our new project. Cost of retained earnings is a cost of internally generated funds. It is an imputed or opportunity cost or the dividends given up by the common stockholders. It is the rate that investors can earn elsewhere on investments of comparable risk. Why we choose to use cost of retained earnings rather than issuing new shares or bonds? The main reason is that we notice Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is proposing share buy-back. According to research, they plan to buy back the shares by using their retained earnings. So, why do we still want to use its retained earnings to support our new project? This is because we cannot issue additional shares or bonds to raise capital. Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad proposed share buy-back is to reduce number of shares outstanding and increase their share price. So, we do not want to do the opposite way. Moreover, Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is very strong. It holds RM 43,457,000 cash, deposit and bank balances without borrowing any long term debt. It finances itself with cash only. That is why we do not want to raise capital by issuing bond which is a type of long term debt. Although tax is deductible when we issue bonds/debts/loans, we do not want to break the rules and rise their financ ial risk. They do not finance themselves with any debt, perhaps they want to reduce their risk for no need to pay out coupon payment and principal to their debtors. Besides, we choose to raise capital by using retained earnings because our initial investment only takes 9% of their overall retaining earnings. Their retained earnings in financial year 2009 are RM 83,977,000 while our initial investment is RM 1,140,000. Our payback period shows that we could cover it up within 1 year. Yet, without being over optimistic, there is always something unfavourable happen, so we predict that we could cover up the initial investment within 2 years. Cost of retained earnings= D1 / P0 + g The dividend per share from year 2000 to 2009 is shown below: Year Dividend per share Year Dividend per share 2000 5.5 cents 2005 14 cents 2001 5.5 cents 2006 20 cents 2002 5.5 cents 2007 25 cents 2003 6.0 cents 2008 5 cents 2004 10 cents 2009 7 cents Input Function -5.5 PV 7.0 FV 9 N Growth of dividends = 2.71% (by using financial calculator) According to Bloomberg Businessweek  [2]  , expected dividend in 2010 is RM 0.10 while share price of Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhad is RM 3.70. Cost of retained earnings = (RM 0.10 / RM 3.70) + 2.71% = 5.41 % In short, our cost of raising capital by using Mamee Double-Decker (M) Berhads retained earnings is 5.41%. The cost of capital will be applied when calculating NPV of the company. Payback Period Payback period can be defined as the amount of time required for a firm to recover its initial investment in a project, as calculated from cash flow. Payback period which also calculated as: Payback period = RM 1,140,000 / RM 1,987,000 = 0.57 years Basically, payback period is used by small firms to evaluate most projects or small projects in larger firms. The computation is simple and easy to apply. By measuring how quickly the firms get to recover from its initial investment, payback period gives implicit consideration to the timing of cash flows. Many firms use payback period as a decision criterion to other decision as it can be viewed as a measure of risk exposure. The longer the firm must wait to recover its invested fund, the greater the possibility of a calamity. So, the shorter the payback period, the lower the firms exposure to such risk. Payback period cannot be specified in light of wealth maximization goal because it is not based on discounting cash flows to determine whether they add to the firms value. Payback period is viewed as an unsophisticated capital budgeting technique because it does not explicitly consider the time value of money. The calculation above shows that payback period for our new project is one year. Why is it so short? It is because our cash inflow in year 1 which is RM 1,987,200 is higher than the initial investment which is RM1,140,000. So, we get to cover back our initial investment and have an extra of RM 847,200 of revenue in year one. We should be glad that we able to pay back the initial investment within one year but please do not forget that it does ignore the time value of money. In finance, we always mention time value of money. But, do we really know what does it mean? Well,

The Controversy of Interracial Marriages Essay -- Interracial Marriage

The Controversy of Interracial Marriages In today's society there is a lot of controversies over interracial marriages and dating. Interracial couples may have recently become very popular. An interracial marriage is defined as the marriage or unity of two heterosexual people, each of different races. In today's world it is happening more and more despite that many people do in fact disapprove of it and it does have an effect on the children and other family members.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a starting point, let us make it clear that there are no references in scripture that forbid interracial marriages, although some people take scriptures out of context to prove otherwise. While in the past, people were more likely to stick with their own kind; society has seen a significant growth in interracial relationships. By integrating with different cultures and nationalities, we are doing away with hate, racism, and prejudice. The most common type of interracial marriage is where a black male marries a white female. According to the book in 1990, 46 percent of marriages were interracial. It is a fact that most interracial married people live far away from their families. Two people from two different backgrounds will likely experience a significant number of challenges and communication barriers. With different cultures come different customs. With different customs come misunderstandings. With misunderstandings come pain and grief.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interracial relationships provide individuals...

Philippine History Essay

I admire what Jose Rizal did in helping and gaining the liberty and freedom of our country. What he did was heroic because he fought for freedom in a silent but powerful way. He did not form and train soldiers and use swords and guns in fighting for democracy. He did the very effective tactic in inspiring and educating his fellow Filipino. His writings were very powerful that had opened the eyes of millions of Filipinos in that time. It serves as their encouragement during their very disappointing situation. Jose Rizal awakened the Filipino’s hopes and dreams to have freedom and peace for every while living under the abusive and corrupt Spaniards. He expressed his love to the people through his inspiring novels, essays, articles and poems rather than a force of aggression. Rizal’s great love and sensitivity to the needs of the people especially to the misfortune ones was overwhelming as evidence by his sincere services to the people as doctor, engineer, teacher, artist, farmer, and the like. His impressive intelligence made a great impact to all and that’s what makes him the Philippine Hero.This is just some of Rizal’s traits that prove his heroic deeds to our country. His honoring deeds has to be followed and live by everybody. His example is exceptional and worthy to be called a Hero. I am convince that such act may seem unattainable but it starts with doing the right thing in some little ways may a big difference and impact to the society. Being a teacher was one of Rizal’s profession and if all teachers would have the same passion as of Rizal, surely a small town, city and country would also produce great students and/or citizens of our country. The Philippine revolution led by Andres Bonifacio was fueled by the writings of Jose Rizal, the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which made a more lasting impression. This is one of the best arguments of those who believe that Rizal is rightfully the national hero. Rizal was truly an inspiration to many Filipinos during the Spanish period. According to the historian Rafael Palma, Rizal was more deserving of the national hero title. Rizal was even thought to have suggested that Antonio Luna lead the revolutionary  forces since Luna has studied military science which was a brilliant idea to lessen casualties against the powerhouse Spanish militia. Rizal believed that only an army that was well prepared and had enough arms would ensure victory .

The Carolingian Renaissance

The Carolingian Renaissance Free Online Research Papers When someone says â€Å"renaissance† everyone thinks of the famous era that happened in Europe during the fourteenth century. This renaissance was a cultural movement that included the reformation of education and artwork. Famous people in this movement were Leonardo da Vinci, the painter of the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo, the artist who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Most people only give credit to this era as being the only renaissance because they do not know what renaissance actually means. The term renaissance means a rebirth or revival. With that definition, there was another time period earlier that does not receive much credit for it truly did. It occurred in the late eighth and ninth century. The most famous person from this era was Charlemagne. He was a legendary person from this era because he was feared by enemies, but at the same time, loved by his people and for all of the things that he accomplished during his life. His people knew him as the first Holy Roman Empire because they respected him and because of the way that he pushed religion. This time period should be labeled as a renaissance because of his best achievements that he accomplished during his life. Those achievements, which helped led to the Ca rolingian Renaissance, were the way that he reformed the court systems and government, how he transformed the bartering system, and how much he emphasized the importance of information and education. Throughout history, a successful civilization has always had a strong government that can deal with its people in a respectable manor. During this time period, the current government had an unfair system. The system had two different levels; one for peasants and one for nobles. To decide the outcome of a peasant, the peasant had to grab a hot iron and if the wound healed within three days, the outcome was innocent, but that was really rare. To decide the future of a noble, the noble had to fight or hire someone to fight for them and if they win the fight they are innocent. While some people thought this was fair, Charlemagne did not agree. Therefore, he created the trail by jury. This system was when the accused would go before a panel of under oath, honorable men. This system was fairer than the older one. The reform of this government had such a positive impact; a form of it is still used today in some parts of the world. Therefore, the government during this time period was rebor n with a better philosophy. With the government reformed, the next problem that was fixed during this era was the bartering or trade system. Back in this time, if someone had power they most likely abused it. An example of this was tax collectors. Lords sent out tax collectors to receive payment for keeping their people protected. But, most people did not have money to pay taxes so they bartered with the tax collector. The tax collector decided what was sufficient enough, most of the time it was an unfair price. When Charlemagne found this out he was outraged. So he created silver coins to standardize the value of everything. With the creation of silver coins, the bartering or trade system was fairer. Just like with the reformation of the government, the system that standardized money is still used today all over the world. That is just one of the major accomplishments that supports why this time period should be labeled as a renaissance. The last major accomplishment that Charlemagne did was how he emphasized the importance of information and education. There are two ways that he did this. One way is how he pushed education on to others. Before Charlemagne ruled, literacy skills were disappearing and the only people who had this skill belonged to clergy. He wanted everyone to have literacy skills so everyone can communicate easier. One way he pushed literacy, was by transforming his palace into a center of learning, like a university today. Students came from all miles around to learn. The other way he emphasized information was by preserving old text. He had his scholars rewrite old text and scriptures in Latin to better preserve information for future generations to learn from. Both of these were new to the people because people believed that literacy was not important and information is learned from each generation instead of on paper. So, pushing education is the last reason why this time period should be call ed a renaissance. In conclusion, most people think of the fourteenth century when some says renaissance. But, with the information above, people should recognize the late eighth and early ninth century as a renaissance. They should because the government and the bartering system were reformed to more fair systems, which forms of both are still used today. The last reason is because of the revival of thinking that knowledge is power. With the reform of government, bartering system, and the push of Education, that is why this time period should be called a renaissance or better yet, the Carolingian renaissance. Research Papers on The Carolingian RenaissanceCapital PunishmentQuebec and CanadaBringing Democracy to AfricaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeTwilight of the UAWCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionWhere Wild and West MeetDefinition of Export QuotasBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided Era

Los 6 puntos bsicos de las visas J-1 de intercambio

Los 6 puntos bsicos de las visas J-1 de intercambio Cada mes hay una media de 170,000 extranjeros disfrutando de una visa J-1 de intercambio en los Estados Unidos. Si se tiene una, es muy importante conocer las reglas fundamentales. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre los programas amparados bajo el nombre J-1, explicacià ³n de fecha mxima para permanecer legalmente en el paà ­s y periodo de gracia, quà © es la regla de la obligacià ³n de dos aà ±os fuera, cà ³mo saber si aplica al caso de cada uno y, en el caso de los mà ©dicos, cules son los caminos para pedir una waiver, tambià ©n conocido como perdà ³n o permiso.   Para qu es la visa J-1 de intercambio Para facilitar que personas extranjeras ingreses a Estados Unidos a participar en diversos programas de intercambio educacional o cultural. Los Programas de la visa J-1 Son muy diversos entre sà ­ y con condiciones comunes pero tambià ©n à ºnicas a cada programa. Au-pair o nià ±eraEstudiante universitario, dentro de un programa encaminado a completar los estudios universitarios que realiza en su paà ­s de origenStaff  de campamento de verano Visitante invitado por el gobierno federal, uno de los estados o municipales o una de sus agenciasPrcticas para profesionales en Estados UnidosProgramas de entrenamiento para profesionales, como este para ONGs en EEUU. Mà ©dicos para realizar estudios o prcticasProfesores universitarios o investigadores a medio plazo (Visas H-1B y en algunos casos la visa O son tambià ©n una opcià ³n).Profesores universitarios o investigadores por un periodo corto de tiempo, por ejemplo, una conferencia, una demostracià ³n, etc.Estudiantes de secundaria para cursar sus estudios en una institucià ³n pà ºblica o privada. Para estos estudiantes, hay otras opciones de visa.Especialistas en un rea concreta de conocimientoTrabajar y viajar en verano para universitariosMaestros (los maestros tambià ©n pueden obtener u na visa H-1B) Cul es el primer paso para obtener una visa J-1 Tener un patrocinador (sponsor). Sà ³lo pueden patrocinar una J-1 una institucià ³n pà ºblica o privada que haya sido designada especà ­ficamente por el gobierno americano. Por ejemplo, aquà ­ est la de patrocinadores de maestros y aquà ­ una lista completa para otros programas. Si el sponsor decide patrocinar enviar al patrocinado extranjero un documento que se conoce como DS-2019. Si este documento no se puede pedir la visa. Solicitud de la visa A partir de ahà ­ ya se puede solicitar la J-1 completando en là ­nea el documento DS-160 pagando la tarifa correspondienteaportando los documentos especà ­ficos que se piden para cada programa y segà ºn el lugar desde donde se aplica (seguir las instrucciones del DS-160)asimismo, aportar las fotos y huellas digitales siguiendo las pautas del consulado desde donde se aplica.  acudir al consulado con toda la documentacià ³n y los resguardos de haber pagado haber aplicado el dà ­a y la hora seà ±alado. Seguir en este punto las instrucciones concretas para cada oficina consular Se puede llevar a Estados Unidos a los familiares mientras se desarrolla el programa de intercambio? En la mayorà ­a de los casos es posible solicitar una visa J-2 para los esposos/as   y para los dependientes (hijos solteros menores de 21 aà ±os). Sin embargo, algunos programas no contemplan esta posibilidad son: au pairmonitor de campamento de veranoestudiante de secundariay programa de trabajar y viajar en verano El procedimiento para obtener la visa J-2 es igual que al de la J-1. Primero hay que obtener el OK del patrocinador y este debe dar el DS-2019 para cada dependiente. Y sà ³lo despuà ©s se solicita la visa per se. En la mayorà ­a de los casos los cà ³nyuges que son titulares de una J-2 pueden trabajar en Estados Unidos, para ello deben solicitar un permiso de trabajo despuà ©s de ingresar al paà ­s.  En cuanto a la validez de sus visas, dejarn de serlo cuando la J-1 de la que dependen no sea vlida Obligacin de salir del pas al completar el programa J-1 y no regresar por dos aos Algunos programas estn sujetos a este mandato cuando la participacià ³n en el programa recibe fondos del gobierno del paà ­s del patrocinado o de los Estados Unidoscuando se trata de mà ©dicoscuando se posee unos conocimientos o habilidades calificados como necesarios por parte del paà ­s al que pertenece la persona que disfruta de la visa J-1. En estos casos ha que salir de Estados Unidos por dos aà ±os, aunque se puede viajar como turista. Sin embargo no se puede obtener una visa de trabajo tipo L, H o ni una tarjeta de residencia ya que no es posible obtener ni una visa de inmigrante ni un ajuste de estatus. Tampoco es posible sacar la visa K-1 para prometidos de ciudadanos americanos. Los à ºnicos transfer de visa posibles son por una G, para organizaciones internacionales, una A, para diplomticos o la visa U para ciertos casos de và ­ctimas de violencia. Es cierto que se puede solicitar una waiver para que esta prohibicià ³n no aplique, pero no es fcil obtenerla, por lo que es altamente recomendable asesorarse con un abogado migratorio. Cmo saber si se est sujeto a la regla de los dos aos Se puede verificar en la esquina inferior izquierda del documento DS-2019, aunque es posible que està © en blanco.   En todo caso, la visa J-1 sà ­ que menciona explà ­citamente si se est sujeto a esta regla de tener que salir de los Estados Unidos por dos aà ±os y es que eso aplica a las personas cuyas visas tengan las palabras: Visa Bearer is suject to the 212 (E) Two year residency rule does apply.   Waivers para mdicos Los mà ©dicos con una J-1, en teorà ­a, deberà ­an cumplir con la regla de los dos aà ±os de residencia fuera de Estados Unidos. Pero como es una profesià ³n en gran demanda, principalmente en ciertas zonas del paà ­s, se admiten varios caminos para pedir una waiver: Programa Conrad-30, que permite solicitar a cada uno de los 50 estados un total de 30 waivers.Programa HPSA, gestionado por el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos. Programa ARC, gestionado por la Comisià ³n Regional de la Apalachiay el Programa Delta, presente en lo estados de Alabama, Arkansas, Illionois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri y Tennessee. Entradas y salidas con la visa J-1 Para evitar tener la visa cancelada o que impidan el ingreso a los Estados Unidos es muy importante conocer cundo se puede ingresar al paà ­s, cunto se debe salir y cul es el periodo de gracia. Quedarse ms tiempo del permitido tiene como consecuencia la cancelacià ³n de la visa y, a partir de los 180 dà ­as de estancia ilegal la situacià ³n se puede complicar por aplicacià ³n del castigo de los 3 y de los 10 aà ±os.   Informacin adicional Si la visa J-1 no es la adecuada para un posible visitante a los Estados Unidos, un buen lugar por donde comenzar a informarse es conocer todas las visas no inmigrante con las que se puede ingresar al paà ­s. En algunos casos, los titulares de una visa J-1 pueden traer a sus familiares con una visa J-2. En el caso de nià ±os en primaria o secundaria es muy recomendable familiarizarse con el sistema educativo de los Estados Unidos antes de llegar al paà ­s.   Este artà ­culo no es informacià ³n legal para ningà ºn caso en concreto. Es sà ³lo informacià ³n general.

The Roman Salute Morituri te salutant

The Roman Salute Morituri te salutant As the toga-wearing combatants face each other across an unforgiving circle of sand, they turn toward their laurel-wreathed eminence, snacking on grapes, and bellow: â€Å"Ave, Imperator: Morituri te salutant!† This staple of swords-and-sandals fiction, the gladiator’s salute to his Emperor, in fact likely never happened. Only a handful of Roman historians, long after the fact, mention the phrase - literally, â€Å"Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you† - and there’s little indication that it was in common usage in gladiatorial combat or any other games in ancient Rome. Nonetheless, â€Å"Morituri te salutant† has gained considerable currency in both popular culture and academia. Russell Crowe mouths it in the film â€Å"Gladiator,† and it’s used over and over by heavy metal bands (most cheekily by AC/DC, who tweaked it â€Å"For those about to about to rock, we salute you.†). Origin of the Phrase Where did the phrase â€Å"Morituri te salutant† and its variations (†¦morituri te salutamus, or â€Å"we salute you†) come from? According to the historian Suetonius’s Life of the Divine Claudius, the account of that emperor’s reign in his compendium The 12 Caesars, written around 112 A.D., it stems from a peculiar event. Claudius had commanded an immense public works project, the draining of Lake Fucino for agricultural land. It took 30,000 men and 11 years to complete. In honor of the feat, the emperor ordered up a naumachia - a mock sea-battle involving thousands of men and ships - to be held on the lake before it was emptied. The men, thousands of criminals otherwise to be hanged, hailed Claudius thusly: â€Å"Ave, Imperator: Morituri te salutant!† upon which the emperor replied â€Å"Aut non† - â€Å"Or not.† After this, the historians disagree. Suetonius says that the men, believing themselves pardoned by Claudius, refused to fight. The emperor ultimately cajoled and threatened them into sailing against one another. Cassius Dio, who wrote about the event in the 3rd century B.C., said the men merely pretended to fight until Claudius lost patience and commanded them to die. Tacitus mentions the event, some 50 years after it happened, but doesn’t mention the plea by the gladiators (or more precisely, naumachiarii). He relates, though, that a large number of prisoners were spared, having fought with the valor of free men. Use in Popular Culture In addition to the above-mentioned films and rock albums, Te morituri†¦ is also invoked in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Bank of america Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bank of america - Assignment Example Bank of America’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is incorporated in its core values. In 2004, BoA focused on reducing greenhouse gas emission by 9 percent by the close of 2009. The company managed a reduction of GHG of 18 percent through establishment of energy efficient offices. In 2007, the bank committed $20 billion for environmental business program focused on promoting low-carbon business activities. In the same year, the bank also launched a program that promoted low carbon emission by reimbursing employees up to $3,000 upon buying low-carbon vehicles in the U.S. In 2013, the bank issued Green Bond of $500 million to promote investors with environmental friendly projects. In 2014, the bank entered into partnership with a leading residential solar company in the U.S. in which employees are given significant discounts for connecting solar panels in their houses. CSR is a crucial tool that most companies use today to stay on top of their market segments. Clearly, Bank of America is using CSR to establish sustainable business in the banking sector and stay on top of the banking sector by giving back to the society. People want to be associated with companies conducting their businesses in ethical manner, which BoA is effectively

Crim230 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Crim230 - Assignment Example The Supreme Court affirmed the court’s decision. I obtained the information on the case from the Westlaw website, an online legal research service. The case is significant to criminal justice system as it questions the application of the peremptory challenge by the prosecutor in criminal cases. The prosecutor’s reliance on the peremptory challenge in discharging off the four black venire men questioned whether the prosecutor used the sole basis of race to strike them off the venire. The Supreme Court’s affirmation of the court’s decision indicated that the peremptory challenge could not be used solely on the standard of race to exclude jurors (Reuters 10). My role in the case is that of prosecutor and i am advocating for the conviction of the defendant based on the charges forwarded against him. I am also advocating for the striking off of the four black venire men from the jury in line with using my peremptory

IPv6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IPv6 - Essay Example The 32-bit addressing system employs packet switching to facilitate communication. IPv4 can thus be treated as an upgrade of IPV4, to improve the IP protocol system. There are a number of significant dereferences between the two protocols that will be essential in determining one’s choice for usage. Discussed below are the major differences: Address length- IPv4 is a 32 bit address while IPv6 is a 128 bit. This is the basic difference observable at a glance. These DNS names differ by a wide margin if compared by the number of addresses each can yield. In fact, to completely cover the IPv6 address, it is written in hexadecimal numbers as compared to IPv4 written in dotted decimal numbers. This forms of representation are all interpreted in form of binary numbers by the computers (Huitema, 1996). Packet header-generally, packet headers are always affixed at the start of Internet protocol addresses. It normally contains the address of the destination of a given packet. IPv4 has got packet headers only. This differs from IPv6 that has the header, although with more advanced functionalities. The header of IPv4 is 20 bits as compared to the 40 bits of IPv6. The advancement in the header allows addition of extension headers, a functionality not provided for by IPv4 computers (Huitema, 1996). Address resolution- the process of address resolution involves mapping of various IP addresses to the MAC address or rather, a link address. IPv4 employs the RFC 826. This is an Ethernet address resolution protocol. This resolution protocol has over the years exposed users to cyber threats because the protocol is within the link layer. IPv6 on the other hand makes use of Neighbor discovery Address resolution. Its protection is secured because the IPSec is employed to secure the connection in tunnel or transport mode (Amoss, & Minoli, 2008). Configuration- users of IPv4 have to ensure all configurations are done prior to internet usage. The IP address and routes

The Impact of Education On Social Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Impact of Education On Social Change - Essay Example We are living in a mysterious world in which we do not know much. In fact what we know so far is negligible when we consider what we do not know yet. Even then it is better to know more about the knowledge which is revealed to the world because of the efforts of eminent scholars and scientists. Education is the only way to achieve knowledge about the unknown world. Knowing more about a particular thing will help a person to fine tune his personality and attitude. For example, earlier we thought that the diseases were the curses of God. Later we identified that the diseases were caused by some germs or viruses and this knowledge helped us to find out medicines suitable to kill these germs or viruses. In other words, our attitude towards diseases has been changed a lot because of the advancements in medical science. In short, education helps us to change our established perceptions and attitudes or it helps us to polish our knowledge. â€Å"The traditional education was meant for an u nchanging static society not marked by any change. But today education aims at imparting knowledge. Education was associated with religion†(Education and Social Change, 2010). Religions and religious beliefs influence the education process very much. A child is entering this world, not as a free person, but as a person born in a particular region. In other words, religious beliefs are the first knowledge a child is getting in his/her life. All other streams of knowledge came only at the secondary place. Most of the new scientific knowledge entering this world has questioned some of the established beliefs or teachings of the religions and hence many of the religions are not much keen in encouraging education. However, it is difficult for the religions... This report stresses that modern management principles were implemented in the Bangladeshi educational system in order to manage the educational process more effectively. Educational system has been perceived as an organization at present and at each level, different educational managers are managing the educational functions. Another major reformation process undertaken in the Bangladeshi educational system was the training and development of teachers. Bangladesh has realized that only the development of teachers is important in the development of educational system in Bangladesh. Knowledge is bursting from all the corners rapidly at present and the teachers should have their knowledge updated in order to excel in their profession. The above awareness motivated Bangladesh to implement a comprehensive teacher training and development program. Bangladeshi educational curriculum was outdated earlier. This essay makes a conclusion that Islamic community at some parts of the world is witnessing tremendous advancements in the educational sector. India and Bangladesh are two best examples, in which the Islamic community have developed a lot as a result of the educational modernization and reformation happened in the Islamic institutions and educational systems in these countries. Based on these changes in the educational sector, Islamic societies in these countries were also undergone drastic reformation process. The outlooks of Muslims in these countries are entirely different from that of some other fundamental Muslim societies in the world.

Lost Treasures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lost Treasures - Essay Example The Mayan civilization is another group who would have been a great influence to more modern societies had their literature been available to us today. Mayans are believed to have been an outstanding group of people in Central America during the Spanish era of conquests. Despite having no skill or knowledge of the wheel or metal tools, they were able to build temples and pyramids. Artifacts also reveal a system of writing, mathematics and astrology which can be considered advanced for the Mayans during that time. The PopulVuh is a sample of Mayan literature. It is a book believed to have been used by the Mayans to answer questions regarding creation and the earth. Unfortunately, it is only one of three Mayan books that is believed to exist and survive the test of time. Because of this, insight on the Mayan’s systems are hard to understand. Before the invention of the dawn of printing, literary pieces were handwritten. Ancient studies reveal that the early men used to depict th eir lives on cave walls, rocks or leaves. As such, these works of our ancestors risk being damaged or lost due to natural or man-made disasters. Other reasons for the loss may also be theft and the author’s own doing. One example of this is the destruction of the library in Alexandria where it is believed, thousands upon thousands of ancient writings were destroyed. The city in Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great while the Museum or Royal Library of Alexandria was founded by Alexander’s successor, Ptolomy II Soter in 283 BC. (Chesser)... Because of this, insight on the Mayan’s systems are hard to understand. Before the invention of the dawn of printing, literary pieces were handwritten. Ancient studies reveal that the early men used to depict their lives on cave walls, rocks or leaves. As such, these works of our ancestors risk being damaged or lost due to natural or man-made disasters. Other reasons for the loss may also be theft and the author’s own doing. One example of this is the destruction of the library in Alexandria where it is believed, thousands upon thousands of ancient writings were destroyed. The city in Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great while the Museum or Royal Library of Alexandria was founded by Alexander’s successor, Ptolomy II Soter in 283 BC. (Chesser) It is believed that the Royal Library of Alexandria contained literature from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India and other places (Chesser) and so there is great disappointment and regret as to its destruction. Until today, unfortunately, there are just speculations based on existing literary works that refer to the library and the reason why it was destroyed. Historians refer to a few incidents in ancient times that may have caused the loss of literary work in Alexandria. One of these was a fire during the reign of Julius Ceasar. It is said that Ceasar had ordered a fire on the enemy Egyptian fleet at Alexandria’s harbor. Sadly, the part of the city where the Library was located accidentally got caught in the flames and burned down. Another reason was supposedly the conversion of the Library into a Christian Church during Theophilus’ reign of Alexandria. Moslem Caliph Omar was also blamed for the destruction of the Library when the Moslems conquered Alexandria in 640

Neural Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Neural Network - Essay Example Last line means to say that if the letters are placed in some tilted position, then also algorithm must tackle this problem. Pattern Recognition or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a pipelined process consisting of several stages in proper sequence. They are shown in figure 2. Each character is represented as a combination of pixels. All pixels together make a huge feature vector. Total number of pixels is equal to wh where w is the number of pixel in width side and h is the pixels present in height. Figure 3 depicts the way pixel forms one particular character. xi is the fraction of ink in pixel i. Classifier must be adaptive (generalize) in nature so that it can be able to recognize patterns encountering first time. A typical character image is 6464 pixels large and for each such pixel 256 grey values are required making feature space large. For training a recognizer hence, requires huge amount of data to fill this vast space. In order to reduce the dimension space Principal Component Analysis is mostly used which transforms into lower dimension space (Yeung & Ruzzu, 2001). OCR also should make a distinguishing between ‘O’ and ‘6’. Figure 4 shows one case example. If t/b comes smaller that means letter is ‘O’ otherwise ‘6’. A good algorithm must define the tolerance level (T) adequately. Other examples of such cases are letter ‘q’ and digit ‘9’. First identify the maximum rotation number whether it is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6. Then check any mirror is present or not (m). Is there any indecomposable glide reflection (g)? And finally whether there is any rotation axis on the mirror present or not. Other than this Genetic Algorithm also works as PR. Selection of patterns play an important role in PR process as it determines the accuracy of algorithm, its learning time, and the necessary number of samples. Best selection of feature plays important

The Impact of Education On Social Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Impact of Education On Social Change - Essay Example We are living in a mysterious world in which we do not know much. In fact what we know so far is negligible when we consider what we do not know yet. Even then it is better to know more about the knowledge which is revealed to the world because of the efforts of eminent scholars and scientists. Education is the only way to achieve knowledge about the unknown world. Knowing more about a particular thing will help a person to fine tune his personality and attitude. For example, earlier we thought that the diseases were the curses of God. Later we identified that the diseases were caused by some germs or viruses and this knowledge helped us to find out medicines suitable to kill these germs or viruses. In other words, our attitude towards diseases has been changed a lot because of the advancements in medical science. In short, education helps us to change our established perceptions and attitudes or it helps us to polish our knowledge. â€Å"The traditional education was meant for an u nchanging static society not marked by any change. But today education aims at imparting knowledge. Education was associated with religion†(Education and Social Change, 2010). Religions and religious beliefs influence the education process very much. A child is entering this world, not as a free person, but as a person born in a particular region. In other words, religious beliefs are the first knowledge a child is getting in his/her life. All other streams of knowledge came only at the secondary place. Most of the new scientific knowledge entering this world has questioned some of the established beliefs or teachings of the religions and hence many of the religions are not much keen in encouraging education. However, it is difficult for the religions... This report stresses that modern management principles were implemented in the Bangladeshi educational system in order to manage the educational process more effectively. Educational system has been perceived as an organization at present and at each level, different educational managers are managing the educational functions. Another major reformation process undertaken in the Bangladeshi educational system was the training and development of teachers. Bangladesh has realized that only the development of teachers is important in the development of educational system in Bangladesh. Knowledge is bursting from all the corners rapidly at present and the teachers should have their knowledge updated in order to excel in their profession. The above awareness motivated Bangladesh to implement a comprehensive teacher training and development program. Bangladeshi educational curriculum was outdated earlier. This essay makes a conclusion that Islamic community at some parts of the world is witnessing tremendous advancements in the educational sector. India and Bangladesh are two best examples, in which the Islamic community have developed a lot as a result of the educational modernization and reformation happened in the Islamic institutions and educational systems in these countries. Based on these changes in the educational sector, Islamic societies in these countries were also undergone drastic reformation process. The outlooks of Muslims in these countries are entirely different from that of some other fundamental Muslim societies in the world.

Neural Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Neural Network - Essay Example Last line means to say that if the letters are placed in some tilted position, then also algorithm must tackle this problem. Pattern Recognition or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a pipelined process consisting of several stages in proper sequence. They are shown in figure 2. Each character is represented as a combination of pixels. All pixels together make a huge feature vector. Total number of pixels is equal to wh where w is the number of pixel in width side and h is the pixels present in height. Figure 3 depicts the way pixel forms one particular character. xi is the fraction of ink in pixel i. Classifier must be adaptive (generalize) in nature so that it can be able to recognize patterns encountering first time. A typical character image is 6464 pixels large and for each such pixel 256 grey values are required making feature space large. For training a recognizer hence, requires huge amount of data to fill this vast space. In order to reduce the dimension space Principal Component Analysis is mostly used which transforms into lower dimension space (Yeung & Ruzzu, 2001). OCR also should make a distinguishing between ‘O’ and ‘6’. Figure 4 shows one case example. If t/b comes smaller that means letter is ‘O’ otherwise ‘6’. A good algorithm must define the tolerance level (T) adequately. Other examples of such cases are letter ‘q’ and digit ‘9’. First identify the maximum rotation number whether it is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6. Then check any mirror is present or not (m). Is there any indecomposable glide reflection (g)? And finally whether there is any rotation axis on the mirror present or not. Other than this Genetic Algorithm also works as PR. Selection of patterns play an important role in PR process as it determines the accuracy of algorithm, its learning time, and the necessary number of samples. Best selection of feature plays important

Hilton Hotels Corporation Marketing Analysis Essay Example for Free

Hilton Hotels Corporation Marketing Analysis Essay The marketing issues addressed here are focused on how to draw more consumers from other gambling casinos, and how to make Hilton a resort destination. Two-thirds of Hiltons total operating earnings in the early 1990s were derived from the four casinos they owned in Las Vegas, Nevada. Expanding on this idea will ensure the hotel chain firmly plants its feet in the entertainment and resort business (Hilton Case Study). By investing massive amounts of revenue into developing their gaming division, the Hilton will become a destination resort that would encompass of all the guests needs to keep them interested staying within the confines of the resort. Some considerations include how Hilton would get its market share of the billions of dollars in casino revenues. The percentage of gambling versus side attractions will influence the profit margins, depending on how much focus is placed on each area. The hotel chain can also strive to increase its overall occupancy rate of seventy percent while continuing to set the industry benchmark (Hilton Case Study). In researching how to improve marketing to attract customers, we must first look at where the Hilton stands today. Second, we must analyze what has worked in the past and see if we can apply past practices into the current market. Third, we shall look at how the competitors are more effective by looking at their gaming plans, marketing structure, customers spending habits and dollar/cost value based on guest surveys. Hilton entered the gaming market as an attempt to compete with the other big hotels for the gambling dollar. Investments in renovation and expansion caused Hilton to over- extend. Although the investments were needed to compete, the hotel chain felt it needed to lure big money to its locations, and extend credit more than usual. Heavy hitters receive this same courtesy from other hotels, but this puts a strain on the operating cash flow, as chasing bad credit costs money, and slows up cash flow. Gaming revenue was already down, which was attributable in part to renovation and more so to extended credit that had been difficult to reclaim. In todays market, families are a prime target. Big beautiful hotels are  catering to families all along the Las Vegas strip. Gambling is still the main focus, but todays gambler is more inclined to visit the Casino Resort, a place that the kids can stay, have a good time and be entertained. Meanwhile, the parents can drop next months mortgage money at the casino. This type of package appeals to the whole family. As far as quality of service, no one does it better than Hilton, because they create an environment that the customer, family or non-family guests will remember and to which they will want to return. The focus on entertainment is important, but Las Vegas is still sin-city. Three point six billion dollars have been spent in packaging entertainment; focus on the family is important, but a balance of adult-only and child-friendly entertainment is required. Gambling is the central purpose for casinos to exist. Continue to market the standard tables of chance, card tables, slot machines, and lavish floor shows, with headliners people recognize, and the main source of revenue will continue to flow. Have shopping, kids activities, and outdoor recreation available, but not as the focus of why travelers should visit, and that will provide entertainment for the rest of the family. Hilton should pull back the extended credit. By doing so, they may lose a few customers, but the resulting loss of risk will increase bottom-line profit. By changing the focus to families, the customers that discontinue patronizing the hotel for credit line reasons are not the desired target anymore. The chain should pay more attention to the middle-market segment, conventions, and sporting events such as youth tournaments and professional venues. In volume, the more people that move through the doors, the more money there is to be made. With this said, room rates must stay within the $100.00 a night rate with weekend promotions of Thursday through Sunday at a lower rate; perhaps 25% to 35% lower. This would be a novel concept, as the industry generally promotes lower room rates Monday through Thursday. The food and beverage structure should remain the same, as it has proven to be more than adequate and very popular. The increase in competition can be dealt with through better values in room rates, childrens activities, slot machines that pay off more frequently and the most important aspect of the business, service. Hilton could offer something that the other hotels do not: ensuring the employee responses to each customers needs are met with enthusiasm and expedience. People are paying for an experience along with the opportunity to break the house; give them what they are looking for. Word of mouth is far more powerful than any media advertisement. Hilton has entered the gaming industry. Gaming must focus on gambling and hotel must focus on hotel amenities and service. It would be the hotels responsibility to insure the entertainment, promotions and accommodations were settled; leaving the gaming operations to generate gaming interest. Advertising would be a joint effort, but casino operations would focus on the age 21 and older market. The two operations would report to the Chief Executive Officer and his staffs to ensure all objectives are met. It would be the CEO and staffs responsibility to ensure both lines were working hand-in-hand, while maintaining separate operations. The purpose for this suggestion is to keep revenues separate so one function does not bear the full brunt of any losses that may occur. The casino will always show a bigger profit than the hotel, but by having separate bottom lines, profit and losses are easier to control. The hotel/casino is one business, but must have two different mindsets as the casino and hotel does, and will operate much differently. Situational AnalysisThe U.S. based Hilton Hotels Corporation is a multi-billion dollar corporation and a leading brand in the hotel and gaming industry. Conrad Hilton started the company in 1919 with his first hotel purchase. Since then the company has grown to over 2,000 hotels globally, with several brand name acquisitions, including Ballys, Hampton Inn, Doubletree Suites and Homewood Inn. Besides standard hotel service, the Hilton Corporation runs casinos, vacation ownership businesses and luxury hotels, like the Conrad Line. The Hilton Hotels Corporation earned in excess  of $3.8 billion in fiscal year 2003 (Datamonitor, p. 4). External FactorsAccording to the Datamonitor report, the Marriott and Hyatt Corporations are the Hilton Hotel Corporations biggest competitors. Las Vegas is a gaming town, thus every hotel is expected to have gambling casinos within. The Las Vegas Hilton website shows that they also provide live entertainment, including comics and headline musical acts, as well as hosting a million-dollar Blackjack tournament. These factors, along with the attractive room packages and gambling activities, should be enough to maintain the occupancy rate and keep the gambling action constant. According to its website, the Las Vegas Marriott is a hotel with 278 rooms. The Hyatt franchise is located 17 miles away from the Las Vegas strip on Lake Las Vegas, but is a resort, casino and spa. While the Hyatt is a luxury hotel chain, the Marriott is a corporation more in line with Hilton. The Marriott made over $9 billion in fiscal year 2003; more than three times the Hilton Hotel Corporation (Marriott Datamonitor report). To contend with a company of this magnitude is not an easy job for any of their competitors. Hilton Hotels Corporation is an enormous company as mentioned above; so sizable that they had to split the corporation into six main divisions, totaling approximately 100,000 employees worldwide. Hilton Hotels Corporation has been very successful since they were established in 1946. Their diversification profile is significant and ambitious; no matter where you go, there are Hilton hotels there. In addition, Hilton Corporation has been leading in customer service and efficient staffing by utilizing a call center to help them maintain their reputation for hospitality. Hilton Reservations Worldwide handles reservations and information requests for thousands of hotel properties, under their various brands, positioning the company on the top of: †¢ Accurate intraday forecasts†¢ Reduced management costs†¢ Excellent customer service †¢ An edge over the competitionA companys strength does not solely lie in the size of the company but in the management of the company, the employees and their commitment to their customers. Hiltons management promoted brand relevancy within minority markets. Their sales team strategic initiatives are to target the multicultural market. In relation to their employees, Hiltons are some of the finest. They are trained to do their jobs with care and make sure the customers are comfortable and happy. The customer personal profile allows the Hilton employees to treat each customer as a unique and special individual. WeaknessEvery company has weaknesses; Hilton Hotels weakness lied in its inability to recover quickly from the attacks on America in 2001. Although Hilton Hotels is a large company in many locations across the country, they had to reduce their manpower due to the decline in business. Matthew J. Hart (president and CEO) said; we have had a lot of job losses about 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs out of a worldwide workforce of 100,000. But we have no plans for any more, unless business gets worse (Finch, 2001, p.1). The September 11th attacks left the whole nation in awe, in grief, and for many New Yorkers, jobless. The attacks left the airline and hotel industry to recover from lost sales. Another weakness the hotel industry is facing is the evident decline in supply. The below chart shows how the demand to occupy the Hilton hotels has been a declining behavior during the last years:A closer examination of the demand cycle for economy hotels during the past several years reveals a pattern that is not consistent with other hotels. The rate of demand growth in this segment began declining during mid-2000, about nine months before a similar effect was felt industry-wide. In addition, as the industrys demand recovery has begun to accelerate the rate of demand growth, the economy segment has plateaud. Of even more concern is that the number of rooms currently being purchased in this segment is still declining when compared to previous-years levels. (Look Smart Articles, 2004, p.1)OpportunitiesAs mentioned earlier, Hilton Hotels Corporation is known worldwide; with this notoriety their reputation will carry them to expand their hotel empire even further. Their opportunity lies in the growing international market. The company is expecting 4-5% fee growth in 2004 within; new management contracts in Austin, Houston, Omaha and Conrad Miami. The company market overview reveals that recent trends in major markets are:†¢ Strong in New York, D.C., Hawaii†¢ Stable in New Orleans, Boston†¢ Weak in San Francisco, ChicagoThere will always be a demand for hotels and resorts. Currently, Hilton Hotels are working on more room availability; 80% of rooms have been renovated within last five years, and they are expanding into new markets. They also have Best Rates. Guaranteed, Internet easy access with a success rate of utilization from the customers:†¢ 13% of all reservations†¢ 85% through proprietary websites†¢ Self-service kiosksThis kind of service assists in making the experience convenient for the customer. Along with the convenience, Hilton Corporation and their six divisions take pride in making every building fee l like home and ensuring the customer is satisfied and pleased with their accommodations (Hilton Hotels Corporation, 2003, s.3-5). ThreatsA few of the threats for The Hilton are competition, and a declining economy. The competition for The Hilton is not only other hotel companies, but restaurants and other service centers as well. Marriott is the main competitor of The Hilton amongst other hospitality companies. Because Hilton is so grand and reputable, they have more room for error, which also makes them vulnerable. As time passes, the Hilton Hotels continue to strive for excellence and perfection. They make each new hotel or resort better than the last. Because of the continuous growth of this company, it has dealt  with its competition head on (Nairn, 2001, p.3). The second threat is the economic decline of this century. Since the September 11th attacks in New York City, the American economy has been declining in all service industry areas. There was an ominous fear of flying and for quite some time, many people chose not to travel for vacations or long-distance business trips. This reaction to the events of 2001 hurt the hospitality industry, and made difficult rebuilding what they lost in revenue. Fortunately, this trend has started to change and the industry will soon recover from their losses. This is an area that still needs close monitoring from the executives of the corporation. References Datamonitor Hilton Hotels Company Overview August 2004. Datamonitor Marriott International Inc. Overview August 2004. Finch, J. (2001, November 16). Hilton reports impact of September 11. Retrieved October 26, 2004, http://www.union-network.org/unitourism.nsf/2c89b80c011f2519c1256b06002163c2?OpenDocumentHotels Hilton Hotels Corporation. (1998, Fall 1998). Corporate History. Retrieved October 26, 2004, Http://hiltonworldwide.hilton.com/en/ww/company-_info/corporate_history.jhtml;jsessionid=FGTDSXUCGXCGSCSGBIX222QKIYFCXUUCHilton Case Study. https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp Retrieved October 23, 2004. Hilton Hotels Corporation (2003, July). Hilton: Great Brands and a Balanced Business Model (presentation). Retrieved October 26, 2004, http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/NYS/HLT/Hilton%20Presentation%20February%202004/tsld002.htmhttp://www.lakelasvegas.com/http://www.lv-hilton.com/http://www.vacationclub.com/en-us/vc/about/marriottworld/lasvegas.asp?cookies=trueLook Smart Articles (2004, January 14). Economy segment lags industry in key performance measures Trends Stats. Retrieved October 26, 2004,